ATARI BYTES

As Intellivision Month draws to a close in episode 231, prepare to be swept off your feet by the enchanting tale of "Beauty & the Beast"! Soak up that Disney Magic! *checks notes* Sorry, not the Disney movie. Okay, we cover the times fairy tale from.... *squints at some scribbles in notes* Sorry again.  Actually,  we're playing iMagic's 1982 game "Beauty & the Beast" which seems to bear no relatio...

Intellivision month rolls on in episode 230 like a poker chip off the chest of a gambler who has passed out after a sound thrashing by Lady Luck. We're playing Mattel's LAS VEGAS POKER & BLACKJACK from 1979. What are the odds that this is a good episode? Well, we're keeping our cards close to our vest. We've managed to bluff our way through 230 episodes so far... THIS WEEK'S SHORT STORY: WHAT HAPP...

Intellivision Month continues in episode 229 with SPACE BATTLE, Mattel, 1979. In this era of social distancing, "space" is a concept we know well. "Battle" is, unfortunately, something we've seen all too much of. SO, take a break with some games and stories. This week's original short story is: BAD POETRY CORNER: SPACE BATTLE Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of hi...

Any old episode could give you swords. Any old episode could give you serpents. But this week in episode 228, to launch INTELLIVISION MONTH 2020, we're giving you SWORDS AND SERPENTS.  I know! How can we afford such generosity? Does this 1982 iMagic sword and sorcery (and serpent) title win the treasure or deserve to die in a fireball?  THIS WEEK'S SHORT STORY: STUCK Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Inco...

ATARI BYTES episode 227 explores a concept many of us in this pandemical age in which we live may have forgotten: commuting from one place to another. That place, specifically, is outer space. We're guessing social distancing is a bit easier up there. And if you sneeze, you just splatter the inside of your own helmet instead of the other commuters. We're playing Activision's 1984 ode to the soul-c...

The game this week on ATARI BYTES is an unreleased prototype. The episode is not. Or is it? We're playing COMBAT TWO, announced by Atari in 1982 for a 1984 release that never happened. Yet, here it is. Maybe the show has never happened either. Maybe I  never happened. Or  you . Maybe everything is an illusion. Anyway...happy listening! This week's short story: COMBAT, COMBAT EVERYWHERE Thanks to K...

On ATARI BYTES episode 225, we've got no time for losers...'cause we are the CHAMPIONS! ...of the World! Or at least CHAMPIONSHIP SOCCER from Atari, 1980. Grab your cleats and some of those long socks and join us on the field. This week in Bad Poetry Corner: a smattering of "champion" inspired haiku. Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of "Take a Chance", "Pinball Sp...

Beamrider! Go, beamrider! (To the tune of "Greased Lightning"? No?) In episode 224 of ATARI BYTES, we're playing the 1983 Activision spacey shoot 'em up BEAMRIDER. Blast the alien invaders because apparently the Earth shield you're "cleaning" is really more of an Earth sieve and aliens are flowing fast and free through that thing. THIS WEEK'S SHORT STORY: ESSENTIAL WORK Thanks to Kevin McLeod at I...

This week in ATARI BYTES episode 223, we're playing the 1983 Activision game SEAQUEST. Your sub must DIVE DIVE DIVE! to rescue treasure-hunting divers. Insert obligatory "We all live in a yellow submarine" joke here. This week's original short story: A QUEST TO UNITE THE WORLD Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs "Take a Chance", "Reformat" and "Pinball S...

ATARI BYTES episode 222. Three of the same digit in the episode number. Three names for the same game. Coincidence? Yes. Yes, it is. We're playing homebrew "ATARI CLIMBER" in our continuing effort to alphabetically work our way through the Flashback 9. Or maybe we're playing "Climber". Or perhaps "Climber 5".  Does the game reach the highest heights or sink to the lowest lows? Climb on up and grab...

In ATARI BYTES episode 221 this week, we dive deep to the depths of Atari Ocean, dodging fierce sharks and the surprisingly tender embrace of amorous octopi, to bust open the treasure chest that contains FATHOM.  Does this 1983 iMagic game rise triumphantly to the surface or sink like a stone? This week's short story: THE UNDERSEAN Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use...

THE CARNIVAL IS IN TOWN! In episode 220, we flagrantly defy stay-at-home orders to go to the carnival. Okay, not really. But we are playing Sega's 1980 Atari 2600 game CARNIVAL. Grab a corn dog, do something involving butter, and take  a spin on the tilt-a-whirl. Just don't hug a carney. Social distancing, friends. This week's short story: SECOND DUCK ON THE LEFT Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompet...

So, in 1981, Atari was wanting to do a follow up to the hugely popular ASTEROIDS. What to call it? Asteroids II? Boring. Asteroids Again? Kind of whiny. And it doesn't play up the goal of improving on the original. Asteroids Better? Better what? Asteroids Mediocre? *sigh* Kenny from janitorial services walked by with a broom in one hand and a ham sandwich in the other. "Call it 'Asteroids Deluxe',...

Like a gaming geyser, the Flashback 9 spews forth a fountain of gaming fun in episode 217 with the water-based AQUAVENTURE. This 1983, never released Atari prototype pits flippered-man against finned foes as a mermaid looks on enigmatically. Treasure awaits! Then we swim against the tide to come up with this week's short story: BAXTER VERSUS THE MERMAID. Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com f...

Until now, I think the "newest" Atari game I had talked about on the show was from, like, 1988. Episode 216, though, is breaking new ground...by revisiting old ground.  In 2007, AtariAge produced ADVENTURE II, a loving tribute to the iconic ADVENTURE as a cartridge you could actually buy and hold in your hands, I, however, played it on the Flashback 9, which came out a couple years ago. Castles! V...

Wooooo! Are you hot, or is it just me? Episode 215 is on FIRE! We're playing SWORDQUEST: FIREWORLD, the second in the series of four adventure games Atari created in the 1980s that tied into a contest where you - yes, you! - could win valuable prizes. Only you couldn't, 'cause Atari torched itself and never finished the four games or the contest. But you know what you can finish? This episode! Con...

In episode 214: GOLF, we consider Atari's answer to the question: How can we take a game designed for walking around outside in nature and make it less healthy? We also say goodbye to daredevil Mad Mike Hughes. This week's short story: PEANUT PUTTER BUTTER Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs "Immersed", "Pinball Spring", "Reformat" and "Take a Chance". ...

If sports is a metaphor for human competition, auto racing is a metaphor for life as a whole: going round and round as fast and loud as possible, consuming as many resources as possible, without actually getting anywhere.  Exhibit A: this week in ATARI BYTES episode 213, we're playing Atari's 1977 contribution to automotive sports INDY 500. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines and perhaps you'...

On episode 212 of ATARI BYTES, we learn that maybe not all board games need to make the jump to the TV screen. To be fair, our discussion of Atari's 1979 BACKGAMMON adaptation could be colored by the flu and flu-related weariness bombarding the podcast studio while putting the episode together. But we're not sure that excuses everything... This week's short story: GET BACK, GAMMON! Thanks to Kevin...

Episode 211 of ATARI BYTES asks you, the listener, to test your MEMORY and remember back to a time long ago. CONCENTRATE and get ready to MATCH the fun you had with Hunt & Score in episode 192 as we get ready to play CONCENTRATION this week; the same game, by another name. I know. You're not sure you can handle so much excitement in such a short time. It'll be okay.  This week's short story: PERFE...

Episode 210 of ATARI BYTES is a science lesson. Did you know fire is sentient and can move around at will? It can! But fear not, you can defeat it with a hammer. Also, gorillas hate you. Also barrels. But mostly you. That's right! We're playing iconic game DONKEY KONG this week! But, Bill, you say, you done did that! Yes, yes, I did (ep. 37). But this time...it's for the 7800!!!!!! Please try to c...

Episode 209! We're having so much fun in Atari future that we're hanging around to play FIGHT NIGHT from 1988 for the Atari 7800. You know it's a good game because the words in the title rhyme. That's how they grade games, right? So is this one a knock out or one of those matches where the fighters just exhaustedly hug each other until the ref pulls them apart? Spit in your bucket and left hook pu...

Episode 208 of ATARI BYTES finds us hanging out with the 7800 Pro System once again. It's so pretty in this futuristic world. The sun high and gorgeous. Lush vistas spread out before us. Hey...what's that squirming around over there...Oh, no! It's... CENTIPEDE! We thought we left you behind on the 2600. But no...the fight against the angry arthropds continues in this 1987 port of the classic arcad...

Go suck an egg! Sorry...meant go lay an egg. No, that's not right.  Oh! Right. In episode 207, we're playing the 1987 Atari 7800 port of JOUST where, astride a fierce ostrich (yep) you do battle with knights on buzzard-back (really), scrambling (heh!) to keep the buzzard eggs from hatching into new enemies. I swear, that's what this game is.  This week's short story: THE INFINITE CIRCUS Thanks to...

In episode 206, we're playing the 1983 game SORCERER'S APPRENTICE. The game was inspired by the Mickey Mouse "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of the iconic 1940 Disney masterpiece "Fantasia"....oh, and some poem by Wolfgang von Goethe. But mostly Mickey. This week's short story: THE SORCERER'S RETIREMENT Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs "Take a Chance"...